AuthorTopic: How do you install downloaded software? (Read 23171 times)

I have downloaded TightVNC and Open Office. I have the VNC files in my home directory. I want to install them. They have tar and rpm extensions.

I have open office on a cd. I want to copy it to my home directory and then install it.

I looked at Midnight Commander in a terminal. Can't figure that out. Would use tar but I am not sure what to type. Seems tar eTried to figure out how to see the files on a cd and copy OO to my home directory using K3B. No luck. Couldn't find a way to see the cd files. I mounted the cd and still can't "see" it. (Why do I see my cd drive, my hard drive, my floppy drive, and my USB drive, but not my DVD drive in the "Device" icon on the tool bar?)Not sure what to do with rpm files.

Sorry for the nube-ness. (Y'all can just ignore this if it is too lame. I looked at the man pages for tar and I don't think I get it.)

Are these Vector Linux packages (i.e.: from the Deluxe CD), Slackware packages, or from somewhere else? The instructions will depend on where you got the software from and how it's packaged up. Get back to that and one of us can give you step-by-step instructions.

Oh, and you never have to apologize for being new here. We were all new once and we all had to learn.

I know that OOo can be a pain to get installed for those of us without rpm/dep package systems. I would recommend using linuxpackages (slackware 12.1) package for OOo 2.4.1 (unless it's already in our repositories???) as it's ready for a slack-based distro like ours.http://www.linuxpackages.net/download.php?id=12444

TightVNC should be in our repository - have you done a search for it?

To search for both of those applications, open GSLAPT, in preferences add the 'testing' and 'extra' repositories, then update the database, and then search for those packages individually.

It is from the 5.8 repositories. I also ran it on my system. It installed fine, removed the other VNC software (x11vnc) like it should and I can launch VNCviewer from under networks in the menu.

I am not a user of tightvnc so I can not test it beyond that.

P.S. These packages are both removable the same way you put them in, by right clicking and choosing remove package. However, removing a package will not reinstall anything that was taken out when you put the package in. Example x11vnc.

I downloaded Open Office for LINUX from the OO site.I downloaded TightVNC for LINUX from the VNC site.

I am assuming that all software written for LINUX will run on all distributions. (Too much faith in LINUX?)

P

No, you don't have too much faith in Linux. Yes, what you downloaded will run on Vector Linux, but... There is a reason each distribution packages things. First, it allows automated installation instead of a more difficult command line process. Second, if you install from the Vector Linux repository our tools allow you to track the version and automagically install updates if you so desire. It's much easier to keep a system secure using distributor provided software. This is true for almost all Linux distributions, not just Vector Linux.

My advice, since you are new to Linux, is definitely to delete what you've installed and use gslapt to install the packages from our repository.

Caitlyn is absolutely right about the best source being GSlapt and she listed all the right reasons.

If, however, you are understanding of these problems and wish to shoulder any potential risk yourself, here are some software sources I use which offer the easy right click ... install package option, for us newbies.

GSlaptSlacky.euLinuxpackages.netFilewatcher.com (searching by package name + .tgz or .tlz)

Your still going to run into some snags regarding dependencies, I have, but thats what google foo is for.

Your still going to run into some snags regarding dependencies, I have, but thats what google foo is for.

And this is exactly why we insist on using gslapt/slapt-get.When you download and install software from sources like these, you are not letting your system do it's job. and you end up with a broken system eventually.

If you would only use gslapt or slapt-get you wouldn't have to worry about googling around for dependancies (try finding deps for gnome using google). As a last resort, I would suggest downloading the source code and using vpackager to build a package that fits your box. vpackager can also build from cruxports4slack and follow dependancy tracks, so that's also another option.

IOW, Avoid by all means as possible the habit of manually downloading a .tgz or .tlz and installing it on your system. Unless you're absolutely sure it will not break anything (which is almost impossible)

I deleted the downloads, opened Gslapt, cut and pasted the sources Stretchedthin suggested in preferences/sources, searched for VNC and TightVNC, ... nothing.

Searched on OpenOffice and it was there!? Downloaded it and finally figured out how to execute the install, it works!

I must be missing a step for VNC. In Gslapt, when I pasted both liks for VNC and updated, I got an error "http://www.filewatcher.com/_/?q=tightvnc+.tlz This package source failed or is not available." So maybe those links were bad, but how do I figure out how/where to get VNC?ThanksP

OK, you've installed OpenOffice from gslapt. Great! You don't need to install it again from CD. I really don't understand what you are trying to get from the CD. Can you explain that part?

I disagree with stretchedthin. He gave you third party (not Vector Linux) sources. linuxpackages.net has packages meant for Slackware. There is no dependency resolution and the packages are of very variable quality. I would disable that as a source immediately. Slacky.eu is better in terms of quality but once again we're talking about Slackware packages. In addition, with third party sources enabled you can't do automated downloads as you may get a "newer" package that isn't intended for VL.

The tightvnc package for VL 5.8 will definitely work. Don't worry about getting that from gslapt. Just download with the link stretchedthing gave you and once you have it on your hard drive, as root, type in:

installpkg tightvnc-1.3.8-i586-4vl58.tlz

I'm really surprised nobody packaged this for 5.9. I'll try to look into it. We need it for 6.0 as well.

Hi Caitlyn,Thanks for the help.All I was trying to do with the CD is copy OpenOffice that I had downloaded on another machine and copied to the cd. I can't see files on the CD even after i mount the it.

As to VNC, I downloaded it as you suggested and it appears to have installed using the command you suggested. I see it in Menu/System but when i click on it ot does not run. Does that have to do with permissions? (I also noticed that if I right click on the downloaded file i have an "Install" menu.)

Lastly there are 2 parts to VNC, the server and the viewer. The link only had the server. Thats seems odd.

When I installed tightvnc on my machine the VNCviewer shows up under Network in the menu and the VNCserver shows up under System. I am using VL 5.9 Gold but it should be similar on the other VL's. Not sure if you are using Deluxe.

Thanks for the heads up. It is split between System and Network menu's. I did a search on VNC and found them both in the usr/bin directory.

1> This brings me to 4 questions. How do I move an app from one menu to another? I want both VNC server and viewer in the same menu.2> How do you uninstall an app, and will uninstall remove the executable's as well as all the lib stuff? (Does LINUX have the equivalent of a Windows Registry?)3> How do you make an app start on boot up? I want the VNC server to run when the system boots. This also begs the question, on a headless system, the system needs to boot without asking for a login or password to load the boot apps. Can you start VNC server before the login screen?4>What is the appropriate forum to ask questions about running VNC in Vector? It does not launch when I click on the Server part and the Viewer is asking for a password that was never set. The windows version has a configuration screen when you first run it. I did not get that in LINUX. (Why do I feel guilty when I mention Windows in a LINUX forum. Kind of like going to an AA meeting with a hangover.)